Beauty and the Beast Retold, Part 1: The Master's Apprentice
by Cathymer
Summary: Beauty meets the Beast. But his name is not Adam, and she is definitely not Belle.
1. A Tale of Woe

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a girl called Elizabeth.

She had many nicknames throughout her life; Liz, Lizzie, Eliza, Beth, Betty and many others which were not necessarily connected to the name given to her at birth. However, we will talk of our main character as Eliza or Elizabeth. She would probably prefer it that way.

When our story began – and it was so long ago that only few people remember it, and all of the rest knew the overrall story but got all of the details so very wrong – Eliza was a very young creature. Old enough to find a husband, that's for sure. But of course, it was not what happened to Eliza, for Eliza was not a good opportunity for a gentleman to marry.

You see, the thing is, Eliza grew up in a very small town, almost a village, in a wild and beautiful faraway country. That country was poor and many people lived badly and unhappily there, and Eliza's parents were no exception. They were traveling musicians with suspicious political motives who disappeared or died in a raging civil war when our heroine was merely six years old. After that sad thing happened and her parents were lost forever, Eliza spent four years in the countryside with her grandparents, eventually having to move to her aunt's place in a nearby town due to the sudden deathwish of her uncle. For him, it was necessary to take care of this child and her proper education, for he „owed that to his poor brother who disgraced the whole family when he left his native town and went playing music all over the country with that weird woman, Eliza's mother, but always had a good heart, and if he didn't strand like he did, he'd probably make a fine merchant". Eliza's uncle, as well as all men in the family except her father, was a rich merchant. After he died, all of his money was left to his wife and three children.

It was no happy childhood whatsoever. Eliza's aunt Wilhelma was rather indifferent to the girl; she considered her weird and unfitting. However, she did make her promise and brought over best governesses and teachers to work with the children. Wilhelma's two daughters liked their cousin at first, but after realizing Eliza was much smarter than any of them, they started to mistreat her and call her ugly. Wilhelma agreed with her children on the subject more than often. She was usually saying that the poor thing is „too skinny and pale and always so quiet, as if someone is going to bite her if she speaks as much as all of the other, _normal_ children". Wilhelma thought Eliza had no character and no particular abilities, which was in exact opposite with all the things teachers were saying while describing the girl at the time. And as for the third child, it was Wilhelma's favourite, her son Ian, the oldest in the family. Ian was so used to his mother's praise that he started thinking very highly of himself although he wasn't particularly bright or talented. His appearance was fairly attractive but nothing that would take away anyone's breath. However, he did have one special ability, and he was developing it whenever he found it amusing or possible. It became the major source of his success later in life. He was a terrible bully.

His favorite target – oh yes, you got that right – was definitely Elizabeth. To be perfectly honest, Ian somehow liked her, but couldn't forgive her the fact that she was so bright and so willing to mock him everytime she felt he was being too smug or arrogant. That is precisely why he was always finding not-so-subtle ways to make the poor creature feel bad about herself. Ian's sisters rather enjoyed that. Even though the two of them were usually pretending as if they cared about their cousin, it was far from the truth and Eliza knew that. She didn't only feel misunderstood and unworthy of love in the house she grew up in; she fell as if she was monstrous, as if she was the most hideous thing in the whole world. Despite her physical weakness and fragility, sometimes she even thought she was downright _bestial_. Furthermore, Elizabeth was so unhappy...

... oh, but I _know_ what _you're thinking_. A tale of woe, isn't it? You've heard it so many times before, haven't you?

Well, no, trust me, you haven't heard this one yet.

Anyway, to proceed with the story: Wilhelma had no desire to help Elizabeth in carving her own path through life. Laura and Marjorie, Elizabeth's cousins, were settled to get married as soon as possible. Knowing that she won't get married out of two simple reasons: she was ugly and she was never properly introduced to the society due to Wilhelma's lack of interest for her and Elizabeth's low opinion of herself caused by the cruelty of other children, which made Elizabeth never even having a wish to be introduced to society anyway, she decided to listen to the advice of her favorite governess Beatrice. When Beatrice announced she was leaving the family because she got the job in a big city, Elizabeth informed her aunt that she is leaving with her too. She explained to Wilhelma that her only wish is to become a governess as Beatrice, because she was so fond of learning and reading she couldn't even imagine there would be a better possible job for her in the world. Obviously, Elizabeth stuck her nose in a book to escape the mundane and ugly world of reality that happened to be way too provincial for wild bursts of her imagination. Mere thought of living in a real, big, exciting, stinky town, not an equally stinky, but incredibly boring village full of mediocres, was the only thing that kept the flame in her eyes alive throghout all those years of passivity, torture and lack of understanding she was forced to put up with.

As likely as it sounds, fat aunt Wilhelma gave the child her „blessing" as soon as Beatrice and Elizabeth told her what they were up to. The blessing meant she gave Eliza only enough money to keep her on life for three months or so, meaning she doesn't expect of her to come back and cry if the real world fails her. „You know nothing about it", said Wilhelma with a small evil smile in the left corner of her mouth while looking at the skinny and fragile child with the dreamy gaze that her niece was. „It is _nothing_ like the books."

Elizabeth wanted to say something rude to her when she heard that, but Beatrice, who was holding her hand during the conversation, made a „don't" sign by squeezing her fingers, so she swallowed her pride „for the last time in her life", which was a thought she really believed in for she was naive indeed, said „thank you" to her family which actually meant „thank you on all the pressure and discomfort you were giving me all these years, thank you so very much, I hope you all end up burning in hell", and finally left her provincial way of living, knowing very well that now nothing is going to be the same ever again.

It was not the complete truth, of course. Some things were the same, at least in the beginning. Soon after moving in the town with Beatrice, Elizabeth realized that majority of other people were not much better than her family. Some of them were even worse, even more cruel, insensitive or calculating. Working as a governess, Eliza had to face many rich and spoiled folks who were giving birth to their some-day-to-be-even-richer and more spoiled kids. None of them were treating the girl with respect, regardless of how well she was doing her job. On the contrary, in the first house she went to, the mistress hated her because she thought Elizabeth was a threat to her intellectual ambitions; the lady in question published a considerable number of short novels and poems, and the poor quality of those didn't make her feel less proud of the fact that she was a part of a literary world; so witty and verbally superior Elizabeth was really pushing her buttons in the negative sense of the word. In short, town made Elizabeth understand she had to deal with all the things she had to deal at home too. Sometimes it was so overwhelming and frustrating that maybe she would break down and give up on everything, if one single thing didn't change as soon as she stepped into the world of adults. What was it?

Well... you probably would not expect it, but Elizabeth was not ugly as Wilhelma or Laura or Marjorie wanted her to think (Ian never really thought that in the first place, and was ever so mysteriously silent when a word was about his cousin's looks). All of them were fat anyway, which made them envious too. So, no. Elizabeth was not ugly. Elizabeth was a beauty. An exceptional beauty.

And apart from that, she was no fool either.

Regardless of how much Elizabeth hated her aunt Wilhelma, she had to admit one thing. Stupid old cow was right after all: life was so much different than books. Or, to put it more precisely, it wasn't that different if you looked better at it, but it was definitely more mundane, it was definitely more dirty than any book of high literature Eliza ever read, or at least that was what she thought (you know, she was _very young_ indeed), and it definitely made you think of your _two_ choices. And these are your two choices: either you're going to be manipulative and calculating just like everybody else in order to eat your bread and stay alive, or you're going to be eaten by everyone else who've learned their life lesson. As the matter of fact, maybe you'll be eaten literally, because there was a lot of criminal and savage murders going on at the streets at the time. So Eliza decided to eat others regardless of her natural sensitivity: slowly but surely, she started to take advantage of her good looks, her growing charm and confidence. Men started buzzing around her like flies; and though most of them were not exactly what one would consider first class gentlemen, they weren't penniless as well. Balancing between her old sensitiveness, shyness and wits and her new sense of reality and a knack for dealing with people from all walks of life, Elizabeth spent three tough years at the town - and managed to survive. She was never a _real_ prostitute; she never really hurt anyone; she was merely trying to grow up all by herself, working as a mixture of governess and something of a professional coquette. Of course, there were nights, days, and even weeks when Eliza was so depressed that she could barely get out of small, sleazy apartment near the main street she shared with Beatrice. But after some time, she got used to her new ways of living and remained optimistic, thinking that someday, maybe she will find a nice employee who would keep her in one place longer than half a year. And, she was right. It happened quicker than she thought it will. In fact, what is going to be told is the story of Eliza's most instructive job experience. Yes, it definitely was the most instructive and most thorough job experience for Eliza...

.. but however instructive and thorough it was, it didn't make bitter story any sweeter. You can count on that.


	2. There's No Smoke Without Fire

When Elizabeth opened the door of her apartment on that sunny day, she saw over-excited Maurice with a bottle of gin in his hands, looking at her enthusiastically as if he just became a richest man on the face of the earth. Or something like that. Though being genuinely annoyed by the scene – for it was one of those weeks of an early autumn that weren't that pretty for Eliza so she preferred not to see people or things outside of her four walls at the time – she let him in.

„Please close your eyes when you sit down. I'm afraid it's rather messy here" said Elizabeth lazily and somewhat arrogantly while letting Maurice inside.

„Oh, you know I don't mind", replied Maurice happily. „I have a great news for ya!"

„For me? Yeah? What is it?" Elizabeth asked while sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair in the middle of her and Beatrice's guest room. Table in the right corner of the room was full of bottles, glasses, food leftovers etc., and there were thick layers of dust on almost every single piece of furniture as well as piles – no, towers of old books on the floor. But Maurice didn't seem to mind – he was staring at the goddess his eyes beheld, who apparently was inequally interested in his rather jovial manner.

„Well maybe, just maybe I have a job opportunity for the two of us."

„For the both of us?"

„Exactly." His eyes glimmered. „I just heard about this guy that lives out of town, not so far away, but yes, definitely out of the main road. Near the Forest Lake, you know..."

„Forest Lake?" Eliza lifted her richly-green-colored eyelids to look at Maurice.

„Yes, not very far away from where your auntie lives."

„She's not my auntie. She's nobody's auntie, she's an old frog."

„Yes I know, I know you hate her, she treated you so unfairly..."

„I'd offer you a drink but I see you've already brought yourself a treat."

„Oh", Maurice gasped when he realized he was still holding a bottle of gin in his shaky hands. He handed it over to Eliza. „Here you go. I'm sorry."

„Thank you." Eliza opened the bottle like a pro and took a huge sip. „I am not in a very good mood today, Maurice."

„You betcha. I can tell that."

„I am sorry for that. My head hurts, just can't help that. Happens when you're hungry, as you very well know. But I am interrupting you. So continue with the story, please, while I am drinking your drink." She smiled for the first time in the conversation. It was a ray of sunshine in a darkened old apartment; and it is not just something one says. Maurice looked like a lightning struck him.

„This guy is a very rich landlord, a very powerful guy, a nobleman, and apparently, he is looking for a personal assistant and a governess. He was away for a year, somewhere across the sea, something business-connected. And now he's back and he needs a..."

„Sidekick." Eliza smiled once again. „How did you know about that? You found it in an ad or...?"

„No, Georgina told me."

„Oh, Georgina." She made a face upon hearing the name. Georgina was Maurice's best friend, his _married_ best friend, but she passionately hated Eliza. As a matter of fact, there were many women residing in the town who hated Eliza.

„She knew that you and I are both currently unemployed. The landlord seeking a sidekick, or two sidekicks, it is a fact she is familiar with because her relatives live in a nearby village. Every peasant in there is obviously property of our, if we're lucky, future employee."

Something in this story smelled like fire and brimstone to Eliza. „That is just lovely, Maurice. What is the name of the respective gentleman?"

„Let me remember..."

„You don't know?"

„Well, I know the address!" Maurice was clearly starting to feel annoyed because of Eliza's display of bad manners. „Let me think. I think she said it was Laurence... Laurence..."

Elizabeth took another sip off the bottle.

„Very well, Laurence something. I don't care. We should try."

„Really?" Maurice was happy again. „You would come with me?"

„I've been unemployed for three months now. I have to go. I can't let Beatrice and..." Green-gilded eyelids did their dancing again. She looked at Maurice. „Well, I can't let Beatrice feed me."

Even though I most definitely remain skeptical towards Georgina's proposition, she thought in instant. Georgina was a wife of Maurice's childhood friend, hopelessly in love with Maurice, and Maurice was in love with Eliza who, again, knew very well that naive and good-natured Maurice, shrewd with finances but forever a fail in a merchant world because of his goodness, dreamed about marrying Eliza one day when he „gets enough money to take care of them all". What he meant by „them all" were Eliza and her and Maurice's future children, of course. Eliza was fond of Maurice, as a friend, but couldn't imagine falling for him or marrying him or _having to touch him like that_, God no. She had enough kindness in her not to take advantage of him and not to talk about her occasional flirts, whims and adventures with other men which made her money sometimes, in front of him, but she also had enough common sense to know that Georgina, who obviously read too many bad fiction novels in her spare time, seriously wanted to undermine her, because she knew of Maurice's feelings for Eliza. Why on earth would Georgina want Maurice and Eliza to work in the same place, that is far away from town, far away from _her_? Georgina probably knows some word of truth about the guy Laurence and his situation that we don't, Eliza thought, and Maurice is simply too naive and too much of a male to figure that out. On the other hand, Eliza was unemployed for three months, which meant she was also a bit hungry and therefore depressed. She had to find herself a job, quickly, and this was the only chance she knew of. It has been most difficult to find a job for a governess these days, or at least in an area where Eliza wanted to live. Or survive, however you want to put it. She thought of all these things when she agreed with Maurice to follow him in his search of the land and property of mysterious Mr. Laurence.

„You know, I've heard he lives in a castle" said happy smiley Maurice, a contrast to worrying and suspicious Elizabeth sitted in a wooden chair like a queen of the dirty main street and dirty old apartment.

„A castle? Like, a palace?"

„Real effing palace, Eliza" her friend replied with an empty, lusty stare pointed at her. He doesn't know what kind of a person I am, Eliza thought. That's why he thinks he's in love with me, but he's wrong.

She didn't say that, of course. She just asked: „If it's a palace, it's a fairy tale. Are there fairies around?"

„Oh, you always mock, Eliza."

„Seriously. I'm not mocking. I'd like to meet a fairy. Or a vampire. By the way, do you have a problem with me keeping the gin?"

However, soon after finishing this conversation, Maurice left the apartment which was as ugly as thoughts his belle was having at the present moment, or any other moment for that matter, leaving her the promise of picking her up the day after tomorrow when he „takes care of all the details of the trip".

Maybe I am taking advantage of him after all, Eliza wondered while standing at the window, waving to Maurice who was walking through the street dirt but seemed not to mind it too much, obviously too occupied with the star shining out of the apartment he just left. That is so sad, Eliza said to herself. It's always wrong people. People who think they love you, but they just like the pretty exterior of you, nothing else. No one could really love what actually lies within, or whatever is the phrase. If they trace it, they only get scared. At least it was her limited experience which made her think so and therefore block out most people that were infatuated with her. She was mocking the whole palace thing because she didn't believe in that particular sort of real-life fairy tales at all. Some girls spent their entire lives in hope such fantasies of theirs would come true, but not Eliza. She was more realistic. For indeed, who could ever learn to love someone like her?

...

Everything was in complete silence. The night, the balcony, the village and forest, the fire in the valley, the old house that kept him a prisoner. Everything kept its mouth shut in his presence. And for a prisoner, probably the worst thing of spending your life in the dungeon is silence. Yes, surely, you can go on blabbing about yourself to yourself. You can create an imaginary friend or pray to any god that comes in your mind. But you won't kill the silence. He could never kill the silence, and as a consequence, he got used to it. He sat there, his eyes wandering off to the starry sky above his head – someone would found it terribly romantic but not him – thinking of everything gained, everything lost.

There will be even more things gained and even more things lost in months to come. There will be. And it will be so until the day he dies. He'll be buried in his own land. Villagers will probably dance and stamp on me, a thought occured to him. Tonight they light fires, tonight they dance. They will dance on that night too, but he won't be there to see the flames and smoke coming out high into the night air. He smirked. Such an amusing fantasy.

Maybe he was a little drunk. Of gin. Maybe not.

Maybe he should not have come back in the first place. All this countryside, it is nothing to him. Never been a man of natural beauties anyway. Money, power, everything bought, everything gained, everything lost.

Everything lost.

There was but one valuable thing lost and never found. He could see it vividly. There was never a mistake about it. He knew all the details of its looks. His most valuable, most prized possession. Her long hair, her dress hanging down. Yes, there she was.

At the bottom of the last glass of a very expensive gin he was drinking.

Ferociously dancing in the smoke, rising up high above the ground.

There she was.

And it felt as if she never left.


End file.
